Jan 8, 2012

Surrealism in the Southeast

Picasso


De Chirico

Joan Miró


Alexander Calder

Picasso
Matisse
Brancusi

There is an ongoing exhibition at the High Museum and for the first time artists like Picasso, Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Brancusi, Joan Miró, De Chirico, Pollock ,Warhol, Alexander Calder and many others have been displayed in the southeast.
There were five sculptures from Brancusi; Bird in Space, New Born, Endless Column and Young Bird. In my view, Brancusi was the highlight of the display simply because his life was something that always intrigued me since I learned about him when I visited Paris.
Brancusi was born in Romania but he lived almost all his life in Paris. He lived a very simple, low-key lifestyle. He cooked his own food, dressed like a peasant and before he died he bequeathed his studio to the government of France demanding that they would renovate the studio and leave every masterpiece in the same place as the day he died.
I hope Brancusi harvested the fruit of recognition and distinction while he was alive but certainly he had never dreamed his work would be worth so much.
For instance, Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, in the 70’s, bought Madame L.R (believed to be one of Brancusi's earliest work) for about €500.000 and it was sold for the second highest price marketed by Christie’s and Pierre Bergé and Associates auctioneers for €37 million in the 2009 Christie's auction in Paris.